Wandering through Pioneer Square the other day, I spotted a fence around all of the benches with a sign declaring that they were closed for “bench oiling”. Now, it’s good sense to oil outdoor wood to keep it from rotting away, but I was struck by the timing of this project. Everything that I can find about oiling wood says that you should do it in warm, dry weather. The warm, dry, weather just went away. Is that why they didn’t know when the oiling would be done?

And, as deiselboi commented on the photo “is this just another way to keep the smokers away?”